The Gallup graph representing Americans’ support for a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza. Photo: Gallup.

Americans are “closely split” on the issue of Palestinian statehood, a Gallup poll released Monday revealed. The poll, Gallup said, was conducted amid talk from US President Donald Trump about reaching a solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict that is “good for all sides.”

According to the poll, support for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza among US citizens remains 45 percent – the same as last year. The change since then is in the number of Americans who oppose such a state, which increased by five percentage points, to 42% — the highest level so far.

However, Gallup said, “on a proportional basis, the latest results are similar to 2015, when 42% favored a Palestinian state and 38% were opposed. The main difference is that fewer Americans today (13%) than in 2015 (20%) have no opinion.”

Within these numbers, Democrats and Republicans remain divided on the issue, with 61% of Democrats, 50% of independents and 25% of Republicans in favor. This finding, according to Gallup, has been relatively steady, with the exception of an increase in Republican support for a Palestinian state in 2003, when then-President George W. Bush attempted to broker an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal.

As The Algemeiner reported, a Gallup poll released a year ago this month revealed that though most Americans were more sympathetic to Israel than to the Palestinian Authority, a majority also favored the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.

Gallup found that support for Israel among Americans remains at 58% or higher, with both Republican and Democratic support for Israel increasing over the past decade, but with the former growing by a larger margin.

Gallup concluded, “It is intriguing that more Americans continue to favor than oppose the creation of a Palestinian state. The finding suggests that despite the lack of US diplomatic activity on this issue in recent years, it is still something Americans would generally welcome should the next president be willing to work toward it.”